*sniff* *sniff sniff* *deep inhale* Ahhhhhhh, it's my favourite time of year again. Oscar Buzz time. Mmhmm. The nominations for the Academy Awards were announced this morning (depending on your timezone), and KHV's resident film studies major (moi) is here to guide you through it whether you like it or not. You can see the list of nominees here. Now, I haven't seen as many films this year as I had hoped thanks to university, but I still keep up with my movie buzz. Disclaimer: most of my claims are subjective. I understand not everyone will agree with me. This is just my opinions on the matter. No soup for you if you don't like 'em. Let's start off with Best Picture. I'm just going to immediately say that I predict the winner is going to be The Artist; to my misfortune I have not seen it, but I haven't read a single negative review, and it just looks so stunning. I doubt The Help will have a huge chance simply because it is adapted from a book, albeit a fantastic movie and book. That's just how the Academy works, I'm afraid. I'd love to be proved wrong, though. Hugo miiiiiight be one of the first "children's" movies to win, it was simply really good; the fact that it is a "children's" movie, however, tends to deter voters, and the child actors were really good but not in anyway spectacular IMO. A lot of people were disappointed with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, so I'm not entirely sure how it got a Best Picture nom; from what I've gathered, it was trying too hard to be an innocent side-story to 9/11 events and to choke out an emotional response from the audience. And it's not the most endearing subject. If The Tree of Life wins, you will see rage. I don't care what anyone says, Terrance Malick needs to learn how to make a coherent film. Best Actor in a Leading Role I haven't seen any of the movies here, so I'm afraid I can't really make an informed opinion. :< Best Actress in a Leading Role Methinks it'll be a tight race between Viola Davis and Meryl Streep. Just.... because. Wow I'm informative. Meryl Streep wins everything ever anyhow. Best Actor in a Supporting Role Christopher Plummer ftw. I really want to see Beginners, ugh it just looks awesome. Best Actress in a Supporting Role Methinks the one from The Artist or Octavia Spencer will get this one. But usually when I'm fairly sure about something, the Academy likes to give me whiplash. Best Achievement in Directing My prediction: Martin Scorsese. Alternatively anyone but Terrance Malick. In the great words of South Park: Terrance Malick "can suck mah balls". Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Bridesmaids might get it's chance to shine here. Admittedly it had very clever writing. But will it get past The Artist? Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Spoiler Best Animated Feature Film of the Year There weren't a whole lot of animated films released this year. Which is why I am both surprised and relieved that The Adventures of Tin Tin wasn't nominated. Rango ftw. Best Foreign Language Film of the Year These movies; I haven't seen them. Spoiler Best Achievement in Cinematography Tree of Life might get this. Cinematography was great. Best Achievement in Editing Normally I'd have an opinion about this, but I've only seen one of the nominees, soooo.... yeah. Best Achievement in Art Direction All of the nominees seem viable. I don't think any have an edge over the others. Best Achievement in Costume Design See above statement. Best Achievement in Makeup Harry Potter ftw. Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score Sweet Lord, let it be War Horse. Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song I hope y'all know who I'm rooting for here. Spoiler Sososososososo happy that Bret was nominated. X3 All the awa- *shot* Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Kinda hard to say without seeing all of them. Maybe Hugo with all the fantastic mechanical, steampunk sounds, maybe War Horse for guns and shells and etc etc. Best Achievement in Sound Editing See above. Best Achievement in Visual Effects Actually kinda hoping for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, mostly because Andy Serkis always needs more recognition for his fantastic motion capture work. Best Documentary, Features Spoiler Best Documentary, Short Subjects Spoiler Best Short Film, Animated Spoiler Best Short Film, Live Action Spoiler Overall, I'm not sure if it's just me, or if this years Oscars seem to include more movies that not a whole lot of casual film-goers have seen. Anyhow, I think The Muppets got severely overlooked; a screenwriting nomination at least would have been nice. Also, I'm not entirely sure what the cut-off date for movies released to be included in this year's Oscars, but no Sherlock Holmes? At least for Costume Design or Sound Editing or Original Score? Probably past the cut-off date, I guess. TL;DR: Academy Award noms. Your opinions and predictions?
I haven't seen pretty much any of these movies, but I'm predicting Rooney Mara will take Best Actress. Her performance was truly haunting, and I didn't even finish the movie, haha. Also I'll be really shocked if Bridesmaids gets anything, seems people are pretty torn on that movie.
